Producer Earnings Report

What do these fantastic numbers mean? For one, they prove what we have all known for a long time now – the web is the ultimate equalizer. The majority of these 47 producers is self-taught and has little to no professional production experience. Yet in only 13 months, they’ve made as much or more money than most freelance producers would in the same time.

Better yet, they’ll continue to earn as more and more people discover their videos. With all this money burning a hole in our producers’ pockets, we decided to find out what they’ve done with their hard-earned loot.

Our top earner, kipkay, has used his $80,000 in earnings to finally pull himself out from under the poverty line and pay off his massive debt to society – that and pay off some credit cards, college tuition, savings and home improvements.

He also took a vacation to Las Vegas last May with the wife. Do I hear a “How to Count Cards in Vegas” video in the works?

Massagenerd’s use of his money was quite touching, as he donated a portion to his parents to publish a book of poems by his late sister, who was tragically killed by a drunk driver when she was 17. The proceeds of the book’s sales go to a scholarship set up in her name, ensuring that massagenerd’s earnings will go a long way toward a wonderful cause.

To make certain that he continues to earn money, massagenerd has also set aside some cash for new equipment and outside massage specialists to include in his videos.

ZackScott was surprisingly candid in revealing what he spent his earnings on. Aside from more mundane expenses such as payments on a new house and new car, Zack confessed to us what we have long feared – he’s a junkie car thief who is laundering his stolen money by spending it on his Metacafe “productions.” The jig is up Zack – we know you really spend your earnings on “protection money, booze, ammunition, some drugs, stolen car parts, etc.”

Team Ryouko admit they haven’t been posting much on Metacafe recently, but with good reason – they were reinvesting their earnings by improving their video production and editing capabilities. As the team said, "Over the months we have been working very hard to shoot hundreds of videos covering different genres.” Sounds like a smart investment to me.

Finally, I’ll leave you with three stories that show you that Metacafe really can make dreams come true (yeah that's horribly cheesy, but so what?).

Doum4, whose work-related travels have been difficult on his girlfriend, is using his earnings to take his special lady along for the ride with him.

Akahad, which is a team of producers named Chris and Yun, used their Metamoney to pay for Yun’s university studies and generally make life more pleasurable for the pair.

As for our “Most Romantic Usage,” Shanuea used the earnings from his “X Ray an Egg” video to travel with his fiancée to her homeland of South Africa to get married. As he says, “Our struggle to get together and stay together in the same country has been a hard one and will continue to be for a while. But for those who follow their dreams fearlessly, help always comes along, sometimes in a most unexpected way. Cheers to Metacafe!”

Cheers indeed Shanuea, cheers indeed. Oh, and if you want to know how to say "I will love you forever" in Afrikaans, Shanuea was kind enough to inform me – it’s "Ek sal het jou leif ewig."

Keep those cameras rolling and those minds busy. And don’t be disappointed if you don’t make thousands of dollars. Remember: "Ek sal het jou leif ewig."